Tow a 17B with 3500 lb tow capacity ??

[BillM]

I found that my Tekonsha brake controller needs to be re-calibrated after brake servicing. The ideal setting seems to depend on how loose the the shoes are in the drum.

[Iowa Dave]

The takeaways I wholeheartedly agree with from this discussion are
1. Keep your brakes on your trailer adjusted and have your controller set up to do the job it needs to do when it needs to do it. Brakes can easily be replaced, it costs money to go racing, I always say.
2. Don't wait until you feel like a rolling cannonball to regain an appropriate speed. Start early on the descent and don't get in a hurry.
3. Don't be afraid to use the transmission to keep your speed down. Buzzing the engine to 4,000 or even 5,000 rpms should not hurt a thing on a 6,500 rpm red line engine especially if your running plenty of good oil and your cooling system is in good shape.
Of course all this is predicated on having a proper tow vehicle / trailer setup. Like many here I have towed in the hundreds of thousands of miles, towing for over 50 years now.
Dave

[Jim Bennett]

Following your own advise should get you safely down any hill, Dave.

[jxoco]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

2. Don't wait until you feel like a rolling cannonball to regain an appropriate speed. Start early on the descent and don't get in a hurry.
Dave

This is the most important to me as well. I guess because we have such big hills out west here. There are pull overs for trucks at the top of most long downhills. I have been stopping at them and waiting 5 to 10 minutes to let the brakes cool down. Get a soda out of the fridge, check the fridge for spills, etc. Then we proceed.
Traveling north on 97 in Oregon coming down the big hill to the Columbia river once I really overheated my front brakes. It ended up cracking both rotors.

[Iowa Dave]

When I am in the west, I expect to serve due diligence to the passes and steep grades up or down. The last two years I have been in West Virginia and several other Appalachian states. They have some challenging hills down there that kind of sneak up on you and will challenge your driving skills for sure. We have both of the towing guides for east and west and we consult them to either plan our route or to remind us what we are in for that day. A proper mindset is a big part of driving too. The Honda 305 Superhawk in 1969 and the 1950
Ford f-1 with that little flathead mill conquered what is present day I-90 through Montana on the way to summer jobs in Idaho. After that it was all downhill. Pun intended
Dave

[Sandra L]

Originally Posted by jxoco

This is the most important to me as well. I guess because we have such big hills out west here. There are pull overs for trucks at the top of most long downhills. I have been stopping at them and waiting 5 to 10 minutes to let the brakes cool down. Get a soda out of the fridge, check the fridge for spills, etc. Then we proceed.
Traveling north on 97 in Oregon coming down the big hill to the Columbia river once I really overheated my front brakes. It ended up cracking both rotors.

This information is very helpful. Should it also be under travel warnings?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

I have "the other one" supplied by Escape. I believe it is a Chinese knock off of the Equalizer...

If we're talking about the Pro Series, it has none of the characteristic features of the Equal-i-zer - it's a typical two-bars-and-chains design, of the bent round bar (not trunnion) style. I believe the Pro Series offered by Escape is something like this:
Pro Series™ RB2 Wt. Dist. Kit w/#63970 Shank, 10,000 lbs. (GTW), 600 lbs. (TW)

The Equal-i-zer is different in all the details. An Equal-i-zer has two bars (like almost everything else), but uses rigid brackets instead of chains, square bars, trunnion bar pivots, and a head that clamps the bar ends for sway-damping friction.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by jxoco

... we have such big hills out west here. There are pull overs for trucks at the top of most long downhills.

Those are the "brake check" areas, where truckers are supposed to stop and check (and adjust as necessary) their brakes. As a side effect, they need to completely stop, so there's a limit to how fast they can start down the hill. Perhaps the existence of a brake check area is a good hint to pay attention to the coming descent, even if you don't stop there.

[gbaglo]

I'm trying to figure out why one would need to cool their brakes at the top of the hill.

[Fox hunt]

I remember my dad riding the brakes on the mustang while pulling a boat down some mountains in California we lost the brakes and started picking up speed my dad yelling hit the floor to us two kids in the back seat. Things were different then no seat belts and pulling a boat with a mustang? He also tried to pull a horse trailer with it we got where we were going but barely

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I'm trying to figure out why one would need to cool their brakes at the top of the hill.

Hi: gbaglo... I always thought it was so they could "Cool their heels". Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[padlin]

A 5 or 10 minute stop won't do much cooling to my trucks brakes, more like a half hour or better.

[Tworainy]

Had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago...and a lesson learned. Had my son looking after hooking our 17B (Tomago) to our RAV4. He did a great job, except had not fully inserted the wiring harness into the receiver on the RAV4...was short by 1/4 inch. Drove about 35 miles until I started to notice that the trailer brakes weren't working! Checked the brake controller by my knees an noticed it wasn't lit up. Pulled over, pushed it in that 1/4 inch, and all was then good.
Follow the instructions, and as Calvin (& Hobbes) said, "be safe, or be roadkill)!

[Sandra L]

Originally Posted by Tworainy

Had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago...and a lesson learned. Had my son looking after hooking our 17B (Tomago) to our RAV4. He did a great job, except had not fully inserted the wiring harness into the receiver on the RAV4...was short by 1/4 inch. Drove about 35 miles until I started to notice that the trailer brakes weren't working! Checked the brake controller by my knees an noticed it wasn't lit up. Pulled over, pushed it in that 1/4 inch, and all was then good.
Follow the instructions, and as Calvin (& Hobbes) said, "be safe, or be roadkill)!

Thanks for the reminder. I've discovered that when doing a pre-trip light check (turn signals etc.)

[BillM]

Originally Posted by Tworainy

Had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago...and a lesson learned. Had my son looking after hooking our 17B (Tomago) to our RAV4. He did a great job, except had not fully inserted the wiring harness into the receiver on the RAV4...was short by 1/4 inch. Drove about 35 miles until I started to notice that the trailer brakes weren't working! Checked the brake controller by my knees an noticed it wasn't lit up. Pulled over, pushed it in that 1/4 inch, and all was then good.
Follow the instructions, and as Calvin (& Hobbes) said, "be safe, or be roadkill)!

We go through the lights check every morning but I couldn't avoid a large chunk of truck tread on I75. I straddled it and didn't hear or feel much but it unplugged the trailer and damaged one of the safety chain clips. I drove for 30 minutes without lights or brakes until I felt that the trailer seemed to be pushing me when I had to brake and noticed the controller was dark.

[Sandra L]

No doubt that it was fortunate for you to make that discovery, before anything worse happened.

[Dave Walter]

For me, an easy way to do the light check after I plug in the 7-pin outlet is to just hit the door lock button on my trucks key fob while watching from the back of the trailer. If everything is hooked up and working properly, my trailer lights will flash on and off the same as my vehicle lights.

A more detailed check involves having someone in the drivers seat of the tow vehicle systematically switching on and off the headlights/tail lights, brake lights, left/right signal lights, and 4-way flashers.

[EDarby]

I will be driving alone - love your light check method - thanks!!!

Originally Posted by ice-breaker

For me, an easy way to do the light check after I plug in the 7-pin outlet is to just hit the door lock button on my trucks key fob while watching from the back of the trailer. If everything is hooked up and working properly, my trailer lights will flash on and off the same as my vehicle lights

[BCnomad]

Gosh, I just hit the lights before taking off to see if the trailer lights up.

[OneOleMan]

Originally Posted by Tworainy

Had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago...and a lesson learned. Had my son looking after hooking our 17B (Tomago) to our RAV4. He did a great job, except had not fully inserted the wiring harness into the receiver on the RAV4...was short by 1/4 inch. Drove about 35 miles until I started to notice that the trailer brakes weren't working! Checked the brake controller by my knees an noticed it wasn't lit up. Pulled over, pushed it in that 1/4 inch, and all was then good.
Follow the instructions, and as Calvin (& Hobbes) said, "be safe, or be roadkill)!

I learned early on to always have my TV running lights on when towing and periodically check the trailers forward drivers running light in my mirror. One time I noticed it wasn't on and for a good reason, the 7 pin plug came loose.

Originally Posted by ice-breaker

For me, an easy way to do the light check after I plug in the 7-pin outlet is to just hit the door lock button on my trucks key fob while watching from the back of the trailer. If everything is hooked up and working properly, my trailer lights will flash on and off the same as my vehicle lights.

Now that makes it too easy